Hi, I'm Erin. I work in a middle school library in Maine. I love to blog about anything that has to do with children's literature, the horror genre, authors, book festivals, arts and crafts, literary theory, film adaptations of books, history, libraries, classic film, women's studies and anything else that catches my interest.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

My First Mini Swap

This is my first time participating in a mini swap. It's basically just an opportunity to exercise your skills, and make a certain number of dollhouse miniatures and mail them to a host. The host collects all the items that have been created, and then divies everything up among the participants. So I created 8 things, and at some point I will receive a box of 8 miniatures, all different.

Technically, you are supposed to make a certain number of the same item, but when I tried to do that the results were not encouraging. I tried making tiny Yankee Candles- they looked like tiny poop in tiny jars. I tried making miniature pies out of Sculpy clay- they were not appetizing at all.

I decided that my talent lies not in sculpting miniatures, but in finding them. I scour thrift stores for items that can be used or transformed into miniatures, and if necessary, I supplement them with other mini's, which are sometimes purchased from hobby stores. My 7 items are not identical, but I decided it was more important that they are constructed with thought and are unique.

I found this little ladder at a thrift store. I had the other stuff in my stash, but I did make the potted plant. It has kind of a English country garden feel to it.

This console table is done in a shabby chic motif, with a vintage doily as a tablecloth, a jewelry charm as a picture frame with a magazine clipping inside, a plastic plate which I painted, and a tiny jar of dried flowers.

Here's the second shabby chic console. The tables are from Dollar Tree, and I painted them a pale pink. This one has an arrangement of little cabbage roses in the center and a porcelain pitcher.

Another little table from Dollar Tree, as well as chair, that I painted with white chalk paint. It's a sewing station.

Metal garden chair with potted flowers that I made, and a watering can.

This little vignette is themed to fit in a nursery or little girl's room. The furniture is plastic, painted by me. The teddy bears are having tea. The doll carriage is a baby shower favor from Dollar Tree, painted, with a scrap of pink fabric inside as well as a tiny Raggedy Andy doll (he's actually from a very small wooden Christmas ornament).

I'm mailing it off tomorrow and I sincerely hope that that the people receiving them will appreciate them.